Superman: Dawnbreaker | A YA Book Review

Superman: Dawnbreaker, DC Icons Book 4

by Matt de la Pena

4/5 stars

I read all of the DC Icons books (disappointed from the get-go with the tampered down writing of Leigh Bardugo) and I thought this was by far the best book of the four. Keep in mind, I’m not into DC/Marvel outside of these books. I loosely know the history of certain characters due to pop culture, but I am not someone ingrained into the fandoms. This could influence your enjoyment of these books.

That aside, I really liked the character of Clark Kent. I loved learning along with him about his true identity and I thought he was likable—not perfect, but it was definitely fun watching him try to hide his powers. The plot of the book played-out in a way that I could imagine it as if I was watching a movie. The only thing I didn’t really like, was the political undertones (which all of the DC books seemed to have); however, it was actually integral to the plot. I get it, but, as a former teacher for nearly a decade, I also don’t think it’s appropriate to spoon feed teenagers a belief system. And technically, teens are the target audience of YA, even though it’s not the actual audience who reads it.

That aside, this was the best book in the series and it was nice to be introduced to authors I may not have otherwise read (like Sarah Maas, but the writing was so lackluster for me I ended up listening to Catwoman on audio). If you’re curious about my take on the other books, you can find them on my YouTube channel. My ranking would be: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Catwoman (although it’s kind of a toss-up between the last two).